Zandvoort 2015
The was the fourth round of the 2015 DTM Championship, held at the Zandvoort circuit in the Netherlands.'Season guide: Zandvoort', dtm.com, (DTM, 2015), http://www.dtm.com/en/event/2015-zandvoort?language=en-gb, (Accessed 02/05/2015) The first of three meetings outside of Germany, Zandvoort is a popular circuit with the drivers, although the shifting sand dunes that line the area around the circuit often cause problems when sand coats the track surface. BMW finally showed the form that had won them all bar one of the titles last season, as Champion Marco Wittmann won his first race of the season in the Saturday race, where BMW also claimed the first seven positions. then proceeded to take his first career victory in race two, as the Bavarian marque laid claim to the entire top five once again. Background Weight was expected to play an important role in Zandvoort, having been rebalanced after the Norisring weekend. BMW enjoyed significantly lighter cars across the field, with Audi and Mercedes both, on average, 20 kilos heavier. Although performance weight had been applied at the Norisring, the floowing nature of Zandvoort meant that BMW's lighter fleet were expected to have an advantage. With no major news stories between the Norisring and Zandvoort meetings, allowing attention to be focus on the title battle. Jamie Green led the charge with 81 points, with and Pascal Wehrlein leading the fight against the Brit. With Edoardo Mortara and Robert Wickens completing the top five, people would have to look down in ninth for the first BMW driver, as Bruno Spengler claimed their first podium in Nuremberg. Team Rosberg tumbled to third in the Teams Championship at the Norisring, with the dominant display of Mercedes in the German city lauching HWA to the top of the standings. The first Audi team (with the Ingolstadt based manufacturer leading the Brands Championship) were the first of the Abt Sportsline outfits in second. BMW Team MTEK were the first of the BMW squads in the Championship challenge, with only of the Audi and Mercedes teams among the BMW quartet. Entries Below is the entry list for the : Qualifying (Race One) BMW had been struggling throughout the first third of the 2015 Championship, but they rediscovered their 2014 form in the first quali session at Zandvoort with the top four all powered by the Bavarian beasts.'BMW DOMINATES FIRST QUALIFYING AT ZANDVOORT', dtm.com, (DTM, 11/07/2015), http://www.dtm.com/en/news/bmw-dominates-first-qualifying-zandvoort-2015-07-11.html, (Accessed 31/08/2015) Augusto Farfus claimed his fourth pole in his DTM career, although he had just 0.008s in hand over both second and third. Indeed, Marco Wittmann and Portuguese youngster set identical times, with the Champion judged to be ahead having set his time a few seconds before his Red Bull sponsored colleague. With Maxime Martin completing the BMW leading quartet in fourth, row three was an all British affair, with Gary Paffett beating the first Audi driver in Jamie Green. Timo Glock, Tom Blomqvist and Bruno Spengler were next, meaning there were seven BMWs in the top ten, with Miguel Molina in tenth as the second best Audi. There was just four tenths covering the top ten, with just over a second covering 23 of the 24 cars. Audi faired better than Mercedes in their battle to be second to BMW in the Netherlands, with Pascal Wehrlein the second Mercedes driver down in fifteenth. Christian Vietoris and Robert Wickens were another pair who managed to set the exact same time, the German ahead through setting the time earlier. Meanwhile, at the back, the two entries of and Daniel Juncadella sharing the final row. Post Qualifying (One) The results of the qualifying session for the first race are displayed below: Race One A warm dry Saturday afternoon launched track temperatures past the 30 C mark at Zandvoort, as Augusto Farfus pulled up on pole position for the first time since the Nürburgring 2013 race two years earlier.'Race 1 Highlights - Rewind - DTM Zandvoort 2015', youtube.com, (YouTube: DTM, 11/07/2015), https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hj42KUM2Hmk&index=23&list=PLrjmhNF7Jz1xzjmHDjWDcNr6PgrfVJSin, (Accessed 31/08/2015) Could the Brazilian claim his fifth career win, and secure the first victory for the Bavarian marque in 2015, or would one of the six other BMWs in the top ten be able to beat the Audis and Mercs? The 40 minute race began at 14:00 local time. Report Farfus made a good start off the line but was ultimately left in third after the first run through Tarzan, after a barnstorming start by Marco Wittmann put the defending Champion in the lead before the braking zone. He was joined by when the Portuguese driver managed to dive past the Brazilian on the brakes into the first corner, as the BMWs translated their top for quali result to a top four race start.'DTM ZANDVOORT: RACE 1 AT A GLANCE', dtm.com, (DTM, 11/07/2015), http://www.dtm.com/en/news/dtm-zandvoort-race-1-glance-2015-07-11.html, (Accessed 31/08/2015) Gary Paffett tried a move down the outside of Tarzan to get by Miguel Molina and Farfus]], but was instead run out wide. The first lap was largely clean, until Paul di Resta ran into the back of Robert Wickens through the Gerlachbocht turn, with the Scot smashing into the barrier and out of the race. With di Resta's car abandoned in a difficult place, the safety car emerged so that it could be removed at the end of the first lap. Wickens continued without incident for the time being, with no action taken by the DMSB over the incident. After ten minutes, and minor barrier repair, the safety car was back in the pits, releasing Wittmann to build a lead over da Costa. Edoardo Mortara and Martin Tomczyk meanwhile were left to limp into the pits to retire, while attacked Miguel Molina for a lowly fifteenth place. Otherwise, the action was sparsely spread through the field through the first half of the race, as Wittmann and da Costa began to break away. Pascal Wehrlein and Christian Vietoris were battling over twelfth at the half way mark, while Paffett was trying to break the BMW quartet by taking Farfus for fourth. Suddenly, Ekstrom appeared in the rear sights of Wehrlein, prompting the youngster to force the issue with Vietoris, ultimately getting by. His move also opened the door for Ekstrom, although the German did force the Swede onto the high inside curb which had caused countless suspension issues in seasons past. Jamie Green, meanwhile, made a fateful mistake through the second sector, running wide into the gravel and out of the race at turn nine. A slow zone was deployed for his car to be recovered, as da Costa made several attempts to pass Wittmann for a maiden win, although all ended in vain. With just a few minutes to go, the slow zone was recinded although not in time for Adrien Tambay, who was slapped with a drive through penalty. On the final lap, Paffett began pushing ever harder for fourth, but fell at the final hurdle when he was forced into the gravel, fairly, by the Brazilian and out. That promoted Bruno Spengler, Timo Glock and Tom Blomqvist into the top seven, which meant that BMW scored maximum points in the race. Mike Rockenfeller and finished as highest of the Audis in eighth and ninth, with Wehrlein benefitting from Tambay's penalty to secure a single point for Mercedes. Result The full result from race one is displayed below: Qualifying (Race Two) Having dominated Saturday, BMW were once again the class of the field on Sunday morning, as claimed a maiden pole position, beating Bruno Spengler by over half a tenth.'ANTÓNIO FÉLIX DA COSTA CLAIMS HIS MAIDEN DTM POLE', dtm.com, (DTM, 12/07/2015), http://www.dtm.com/en/news/ant-nio-f-lix-da-costa-claims-his-maiden-dtm-pole-2015-07-12.html, (Accessed 31/08/2015) Augusto Farfus claimed third ahead of Marco Wittmann, as another BMW quartet was set to lead the field away on Sunday. Miguel Molina also managed to tag himself onto the quartet as the only non-BMW driver within three tenths of pole sitter da Costa. With Pascal Wehrlein ended the session as the best of the Mercedes, as Audi and Mercedes tried to counter the BMW charge, although Timo Glock did manage to make it five Beemers in the top ten. Daniel Juncadella, Gary Paffett and Christian Vietoris had a better Sunday morning to put four Mercs in the top ten, with only two Audis in the top half of the field. There were two Mercedes sharing the back row again, but it was Audi who looked set to endure another dire Sunday afternoon in as many meetings, with Championship leader Jamie Green down in eighteenth. The only BMW struggler was Tom Blomqvist, as 1.200 seconds covered the entire field. Post-Qualifying (Two) The results of qualifying for race two are shown below. Race Two Another warm afternoon greeted the DTM field on Sunday afternoon, although cloud cover reduced the air temperature enough to give the engines a slight boost in performance.'Race 2 Highlights - Rewind - DTM Zandvoort 2015', youtube.com, (YouTube: DTM, 12/07/2015), https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hq5dt0q72s4&index=7&list=PLrjmhNF7Jz1xzjmHDjWDcNr6PgrfVJSin, (Accessed 31/08/2015) With BMW set to once again dominate the race, the question for the win was whether maiden pole sitter translate pole into a first career victory.'DTM ZANDVOORT: RACE 2 AT A GLANCE', dtm.com, (DTM, 12/07/2015), http://www.dtm.com/en/news/dtm-zandvoort-race-2-glance-2015-07-12.html, (Accessed 31/08/2015) With 60 minutes of racing, and a mandatory pitstop to boot, the race was set to provide non-stop action when the lights went out. Report A blistering start by the Portuguese youngster shot him into the lead of the race, as veteran Bruno Spengler seemingly stuttered with the rest of the field. Augusto Farfus almost found a way past the Canadian through Tarzan but thought better of it, as da Costa streaked ahead. Further down, Miguel Molina and Daniel Juncadella were flying the flags for their manufacturers in fifth and sixth through the first lap, as a few cars touched together, suggesting a physical race would emerge. That was proven on lap two, as Edoardo Mortara slung a move down the inside of Maxime Martin into Tarzan for thirteenth, opening the door for Adrien Tambay. The Frenchman forced his way alongside Martin and was successful in running the Belgian wide for fourteenth, while the BMW bounced through the gravel. With DRS getting activated on lap four, the action was set to ramp up again until the pit stop window opened to scramble the order. Martin recovered to 23rd after his bounce, and found himself battling Lucas Auer for 22nd, a place gained for the Belgian when he barged along the side of the Austrian through Tarzan. With the pit window opening on lap eleven (with 20 minutes already gone), Bruno Spengler led the charge for new tyres, which again led to some physical battles. Marco Wittmann and Miguel Molina demonstrated this by running together down the pitlane, before Wittmann turned across the front of the Audi as they came out and onto the circuit. Minor aero damage for both cars resulted, although it did allow Timo Glock to take the pair of them for fourth. Their four way duel (which included Spengler in third) came across Auer whom had stayed out. That, as it turned out, was a mistake as Wittmann touched the side of the Mercedes with enough force to spin the Austrian into the gravel at Scheiviak, ending his day. More contact occurred moments later, when two unrelated incidents happened virtually at the same time, involving five cars and causing Martin Tomczyk to retire. The first saw Robert Wickens and Tambay exchange a series of blows through the lap, before Daniel Juncadella had Tomczyk slam into the back of him. To be fair to the German, the fault actually laid with Molina, who misjudged the closing speeds and hit the back of Tomczyk with enough force to shunt him into Juncadella. Minor damage to the two Spaniards was little in comparison to the damage to Tomczyk's car, as he retired with a dislodged and damaged front frame. As Jamie Green and Paul di Resta scrapped around the back of field, engulfing Wickens in the process, Juncadella was involved in another incident. On the run up to Scheiviak, Edoardo Mortara forced his way up alongside the Spaniard, before edging the Mercedes to the inside curbs. With nowhere to go, Juncadella ran up the curb with enough momentum to get airborne, albeit briefly as DTM cars are not designed to go in the air. That fact was confirmed upon the Spaniard's landing, which had enough force to break his front suspension and put him out of the race. Wickens found himself in the wars once again, this time nerfed out of the way by Tom Blomqvist through Tarzan, the Canadian thrown into a spin. Molina, in the meantime, was given a taste of his own medicine by Pascal Wehrlein, who eased the Spaniard wide out of Tarzan and allowed Christian Vietoris to get past too. Mortara and Juncadella, meanwhile, were told to visit the stewards over their incident at the end of the race. The final laps saw drizzle begin to fall on the circuit, although the 55 minutes of frantic action meant that water simply boiled off the circuit the moment it hit the surface. That said, there was no one who could deny a maiden win for da Costa, who eased off in the final laps to win by a little over half a second from Farfus. Glock missed out to Spengler for the final podium spot, while Wittmann went unpunished for his incident with Auer to claim fifth. Wehrlein and had a late duel for sixth that ended with the young German on top, as they finished as the best placed cars for their respective brands. Results The second race final result is displayed below: Milestones *Fifth career win for Marco Wittmann. *Maiden pole position for **Maiden win for da Costa. *First time in DTM history that seven cars from the same manufacturer finished in the top seven. Standings Only point scoring drivers and teams are shown. References Videos and Images: * References: Category:Races Category:2015 Races Category:Zandvoort